People won't commit if they don't know where they're going

We need big trust to go with someone and not know where they’re going.

'Trust me, it’s a great restaurant.'

‘Believe me, you’ll love this holiday location.’

We may think people will just follow us or they're at fault because they don’t 'engage or buy-in'. How do we lead so people will change with us as we launch something, try something new or zig when everyone else is zagging?

To reduce anxiety and uncertainty and build trust and understanding use sensemaking. We have some of it in our nature (how we make sense of things) but we can learn more so we become insight seekers and rapid sense makers in this world of complexity and uncertainty.

Do this:

1️⃣ Create a map of what’s possible, what the potential is

2️⃣ Talk through that map, share it with others

Like this:

In my recent Sensemaking skills workshop, a participant created a map about change in the educational sector she works in. She shared and talked through the map with the team. A topic that used to create resistance now had understanding, intrigue and curiosity.

✅Ace!

What do you have to convey:

- Your own thinking and ideas?

- A new product or service?

- A plan or vision for the future?

Agile, Agility and Business Agility

Agile, it’s 'a vast global movement transforming the world of work. And spreading rapidly. So said Steve Denning in Forbes, 'Explaining Agile' article.

While agile was born in software development, other industries, projects and teams the world over are seeing the productivity, customer value and engagement benefits to having an agile mindset.

After years working with a number of agile teams, I wrote 'Agile-ish: How to create a culture of agility' in 2017.

If you’re embarking on an agile journey, you need to start with yourself, your mindset and how you think. As with all journeys, a change to agile and newer ways of working takes time, and might not go as perfectly as you imagine it will. So how you respond to that is what also makes for an agile mindset!

My book 'Agile-ish' acknowledges that:

🌕 experimentation and imperfection are incredible learning experiences;

🌕 getting into action and momentum outweighs time spent over-planning; and

🌕 delivering value to customers sooner is what's making many of today's businesses more successful.

I recently shared these ideas keynote speaking at CPA Congress across Australia. Yes finance/accounting folks are getting agile too!

Q:How about you? 

Visual Mojo : How to capture thinking, convey information and collaborate using visuals

The world has experienced a 'visual revolution' over the past decade.

We see more hand-drawn fonts in the font list on our computers, more hand-crafted signage in stores and more hand-created imagery in the media.

It's no surprise then that hand-drawn visuals are more engaging as they ignite the mirror neurons in our brains, firing up our interest and attention. If you worry you can't draw, I assure you it's less about the drawing and more about working out what you're trying to communicate.

We all need greater clarity among the crazy.

I wrote 'Visual Mojo: How to capture thinking, convey information and collaborate using visuals' in 2013 and it's even more relevant today. 'Visual Mojo' is a workshop in a book with space to draw and write in the book. I know we were 'in trouble' if we wrote in books when we were younger, but I want you to break some rules!

'Visual Mojo' will build your visual skills, your confidence, creativity ... and most of all the impact your communication has.

Q: Do you ever use hand-drawn visuals in your work?

Premature solution giving.

When we’re thinking or talking in a meeting and someone jumps in with ’the solution’... Ta da! Big fanfare! Once they’ve spoken it’s as if no other solutions are welcome or matter.

The problem isn’t the person jumping in with the solution. They’ve had an idea and they’ve said it. Good on them!

The issue is with the meeting leader. 'Premature solution giving' is an example of what happens when meetings don't have an effective process.

I’m not talking about the agenda of the meeting, but the process or ‘way’ the meeting is happening.

Designing a process is a contemporary facilitation capability that today’s ‘leader as facilitator’ needs, so they can:

🌕 Create better and safer environments

🌕 Lead more productive meetings

🌕 Guide more effective team interactions

🌕 Respond more swiftly when some sh*t goes down in a meeting. (That is, no sweeping it under the carpet or ‘parking’ it in a carpark flip chart).

Learning the facilitation capability builds leadership confidence, boosts productivity and lifts psychological safety.

Urgh! What else kills that feeling of safety in a meeting?

Stop throwing your status around

Careful throwing your status around.

Leaders in organisations, wherever they go, wherever they walk, sit, stand, eat ... come with status attached. It can't be hidden.

At a client workshop, the senior leader tip-toed in after about two hours, trying not to disturb the session. But really? They couldn’t be missed. Their status comes in the door first! At other sessions, leaders have said, ‘ I’m not participating today, I’m just observing’.

What's that caper!?

Now even more status is pouring out of you. Stop making yourself even more separate, different and higher. Make a decision: either be IN it with the team in the room, or get OUT of it and leave them to do the work of the workshop.

Why and what are you 'observing'? Why not get involved? I don’t see any need for leaders to be 'on the fringes’ of a workshop, doing this watching, checking, observing, judging. Participate, do the work, connect and listen to people, get your hands dirty, hear their stories. Your special title isn’t special when it comes to working with the team in a practical session.

Remove yourself and your status completely. Or reduce your status and sit at the table. How else do leaders throw their status around, perhaps unknowingly?